When you’re living in a social media age, we’re all too used to manipulated, photo-shopped images going viral online.
But some of the trickiest and most confusing pictures and illustrations out there have existed for centuries.
Optical illusions, perhaps more commonly known today as visual illusions, are images that use artistic, photographic or psychological techniques to play with visual perception – with confusing images causing slippages between the eyes and brain as we try to interpret them.
Writing in scientific journal Trends in Cognitive Science in 1997 the late Professor Richard L. Gregory said: “Visual illusions provide evidence of perceptual processes, especially the use of knowledge about objects and the working rules for seeing.”
Here are 8 visual illusions that will have your eyes – and mind – playing tricks on you.
5. Checkerboard illusion
Do the lines appear curved or straight to you in this checkerboard illusion? Photo: Canva Pro
6. Rabbit or Duck?
This famed illusion is another visual illusion, in which some people see the head of a duck and others see the head of a rabbit. Photo: JPIMedia
7. Sinking Hole
This geometric image gives the impression of a sinking hole, but isn't quite what it seems. Photo: Getty Images via Canva Pro
8. "How Many Legs Does This Elephant Have?"
A variant of Roger Shepard's "L'egsistential paradox", this elephant illusion and the question of how many legs it really has has confounded people for centuries Photo: Wikimedia Commons